Protecting Nature 

We went to York last weekend to ask members of Synod to pray with us for the motion to protect nature on Church Commissioners’ land in line with the scale and urgency of the climate and biodiversity crises, which was be debated by Synod on Tuesday.

The motion which would have enabled the Church Commissioners to show a real commitment to protecting the nature on 30% of its land, and to play its part in delivering the national 30 by 30 plan that the Government has said is urgently necessary for the the restoration and repair of nature in England. 

Instead the Church Commissioners chose to oppose the motion and Church’s Lead Bishop for the Environment brought an amendment that effectively blocked it. 

Why is it so important for the Church of England General Synod to pass the motion to use 30% of the Church Commissioners vast landholdings to protect nature? 

Well, above all the Church itself recognises that the safeguarding the integrity of Creation is a mark of its mission. The Church holds a unique responsibility to show leadership in protecting nature. 

And to see how desperately necessary that is at the present time, here are some key takeaways from today’s report on how the Government plans to deliver on its 30% by 2030 promise to protect nature.

• Currently only about 7% of land in England is meeting the 30by30 criteria. This is shockingly bad news for nature and for us as part of, and dependent upon, a thriving nature.

• Nature underpins everything we value: our health and wellbeing, our economy, and the resilience of the places we live and work. Reversing the decline of nature in England is one of the defining challenges of our time, and one we must now meet with urgency.

• Success depends on the actions of landowners, farmers, conservation organisations, businesses, communities, and individuals across the country.

As the motion said:

“The UK faces a biodiversity crisis, with ecosystems on the brink of collapse. Recently, our government declared biodiversity loss as a national security threat. As Christians we have a duty to ensure God’s creational story has a future.

As one of the UK’s largest landowners, owning over 100,000 acres of rural land, the Church Commissioners hold both the responsibility and the opportunity to lead in restoring God’s creation. This motion offers a clear, measurable commitment to this task.”

The depleted state of our nature is critical and urgent – we need much greater leadership and action than the Church of England is giving us at the moment.

We will continue to work with our friends at Wild Card, who worked so hard and with such love over the last two years, to get the Church Commissioners to act on this vital 30×30 responsibility. 

Kairos Palestine 

Some of CCA Palestine Solidarity group also organised a prayer vigil in support of the Synod motion to answer the anguished call of Palestinian Christians to the church to stand in solidarity with their suffering. We took the banner and posters with testimony from West Bank Palestinians that we had taken last year when we were protesting the Synod’s business committee’s refusal to put the motion on the agenda. We were again joined by members of Synod and supporters from Christian Aid and Sabeel Kairos UK and were particularly honoured to have Fr Fadi Diab, Rector of St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Ramallah, join us for our prayer service.